• EU transport ministers make no decision on seat of Galileo system
    12/12/2006

    The EU transport ministers, who were to negotiate on the seat of the Galileo European satellite navigation system on Tuesday, have not made a decision. Before the talks, Czech Ambassador to Brussels Jan Kohout said the Czech Republic was prepared to block them if the new member states were not considered as host countries. It appears that the old member states have a secret agreement to seat Galileo in one of their countries, Mr Kohout said.

    The Galileo system is a joint initiative of the European Commission and European Space Agency and would rival the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). Prague is among the states that have made a bid to host Galileo, which is to be launched in 2008.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Vaclav Havel: video is not call on tourists to avoid Cuba
    12/12/2006

    Former Czech president and anti-communist dissident Vaclav Havel has denied media reports that a video aired at a recent conference urges tourists not to go to Cuba. The video is 18 months old and was presented at the event to show solidarity with dissidents in Cuba and let the public know that the Cuban regime's political oppression cannot be seen from luxurious hotel rooms, Mr Havel's secretary said on Tuesday.

    In the video, the former president recalls a personal experience of being taken as a political prisoner in Communist Czechoslovakia, from his cell to a dentist's surgery in town where people in the waiting room pretended not to see him.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Prison sentence for former foreign minister official extended
    12/12/2006

    The Prague Supreme Court has extended a prison sentence for former high-ranking Foreign Ministry official Karel Srba. Mr Srba and two others were found guilty of plotting to murder a top investigative journalist. His eight-year prison sentence has now been raised to twelve years.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Government approves bill regulating information on emitted pollutants
    12/12/2006

    The government has approved a bill on the Integrated Pollution Register - the country's "inventory" of chemical emissions. The new bill broadens the list of pollutants that companies have to register if they release them into the environment. If the bill is approved by the Senate and signed by the President, the number of registered pollutants will be raised from 72 to 93 as of 2008.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Football: Cech targets hope to return to training in goal next month
    12/12/2006

    The Czech football goalkeeper Petr Cech says he should be able to start training in goal again in mid-January. The Chelsea star is reported to be making good progress, after fracturing his skull during a game two months ago. In an interview on Chelsea TV, Cech said he was now beginning to shake off the effects of tiredness related to the injury, and was training in the gym and swimming pool.
    Author: Dita Asiedu

  • Negotiators from three parties fail to agree on coalition government programme
    12/11/2006

    Experts from the Civic Democratic, Social Democratic and Christian Democratic parties that are negotiating about the future government have identified several points on which their respective parties will not agree. Among those are personal income tax, payments for hospitalisation, the volume of social spending and a law on non-profit hospitals. The leaders of the three parties are to assess the contentious points and decide on the final version of the government's programme. Prime Minister designate, Mirek Topolanek, is to present the names of new cabinet ministers to President Vaclav Klaus later this week.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Number of foreign nationals reaches 2.5 percent of Czech population
    12/11/2006

    According to a report by the Czech Statistical Office, the number of foreign nationals living in the Czech Republic reached 310,000 in September, which is around 2.5 percent of the country's total population. The office said the most foreigners live in the capital Prague but the numbers are rising across the country, with citizens of Ukraine being the most numerous community.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • President Klaus continues African trip
    12/11/2006

    President Vaclav Klaus will begin a two-day visit to South Africa on Tuesday, the first ever by a Czech head of state. He is set to meet President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria to discuss political and economic issues. South Africa is the Czech Republic's biggest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa - nearly 40 percent of its trade with the region takes place with South Africa. Later on Tuesday, President Klaus will speak at the opening of a South Africa-Czech Republic business forum in Pretoria.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Prague city hall to establish working group to tackle homeless issues
    12/11/2006

    The Prague city hall is planning to establish a special working group involving doctors and social workers, to tackle issues connected to homeless people in the capital. The number of homeless persons in Prague is estimated at 6,000 and there is a shortage of beds available for them in winter months. A special boat on the Vltava River should serve as a dormitory for homeless people as of January and in the case of severe weather, a special tent city will be raised like last year.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

  • Barrandov Studios open largest film studio in Europe
    12/11/2006

    Prague's Barrandov Studios say they have opened the largest film studio in Europe. Construction work started this spring on an area of some 4,000 square metres and the final cost has reached 200 million crowns. The studios say it has been the biggest investment in the Czech film industry in the last sixty years. The first foreign production to be shot in the new studio will be the sequel to the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
    Author: Pavla Horáková

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